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For example an individual may think they need to loss weight to get healthy when in fact they may need to get healthy to loss weight.

Someone living outside of town, may have a fuel-efficient compact car for typical everyday travel. However, they may need my pickup truck to haul a variety of things like lumber and gardening supplies that just would not be practical and often impossible to haul with a car. Additionally, many may need a minivan or SUV that children and pets can easily climb in and out of. No one vehicle could satisfy all the needs of most families as well as the 3 separate ones do.

While the need for three separate vehicles is clear, we don’t consider a car our primary vehicle, a truck an “alternative” vehicle, and a high occupancy a “complimentary” vehicle; we need all three equally and each provides a different function. Let’s consider together, how well this logic maps to health and wellness and applies to our medical needs.
Most of us would agree that when it comes to acute care, broken bones, surgeries, heart attacks, etcetera you cannot beat Western medicine. However, if Western medicine satisfied all our health care needs, we wouldn’t be searching the internet for help. Western medicine is much like my truck, the best choice for what it does “Acute Care”.

Often, complementary medicine provides better chronic issue solutions without the side effects of the medication prescribed via western medicine. Acupuncture for example is often viewed as a superior treatment to pain medications for chronic pain management. Tradition Chinese medical and ayurvedic herbs are often used to treat many of the same complaints patients have had for years that there simply is no good medication for. Furthermore, many patients prefer the all-natural approach offered by herbal healing. As you can see, complementary medicine is much like the minivan better for a lot of things just not hailing heavy or bulky loads.

Lastly, alternative medicine is much like our cars, providing additional life enhancements and solutions for health care beyond just not being sick. There is a host of opportunities beyond simply being disease-free that alternative medicines offer to provide long-term sustainable well-being, mindfulness, and spiritual advancement should an individual want to pursue it.